The Organisation

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 85 years, and are now active in more than 80 countries.

UN Liaison offices

Plan International’s UN Liaison Offices (in Geneva and New York) are a voice for Plan International’s priorities at the UN. Influencing its policies, programs and actions has the potential to positively affect the lives of hundreds of millions of children and make lasting change especially for girls.

Plan International’s UN Liaison Offices (also known as “hubs”) contribute to achieving the organization’s global purpose by strategically and positively influencing the UN’s policies and processes in Geneva and New York in favor of children’s rights and equality for girls. Plan International’s Geneva and New York Hubs strive to strengthen the commitment of governments to children’s rights and equality for girls using the sustainable development, human rights and humanitarian processes by;

• Actively advocating for children’s rights and equality for girls to be included in key processes and policy debates taking place in Geneva and New York
• Striving to ensure that girls’ rights are positioned at the heart of the international agenda and that girls rights in international law and policy are strengthened and promoted
• Delivering technical assistance and training to Plan International’s offices around the world to engage strategically with the United Nations
• Training and accompanying girls and young women in their engagement with human rights mechanisms processes at all stages

She Leads

‘She Leads’ brings together child rights organisations, feminist/women’s rights organisations, and girls and young women (GYW) led groups and aims to increase sustained influence of GYW on decision-making and the transformation of gender norms in formal and informal institutions. The geographic focus of the programme is East Africa (Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya), West Africa (Ghana, Mali, Sierra Leone, Liberia) and the Middle East (Lebanon, Jordan).

The consortium envisages to achieve this goal by working through three interrelated domains: central to the She Leads programme is the enhancement of collective action of girls and young women in a gender-responsive civil society (civil society domain), support by increased acceptance of positive social gender norms (socio-cultural domain) and by enabling meaningful participation of girls and young women in decision-making by political institutions (institutional domain).

The She Leads consortium members will amplify the influencing initiatives of GYW-led partners and other CSO partners in the selected programme countries at international level. This will be done at three levels;

• Middle-East regional level (Arab league, regional civil society and networks)
• Pan-African level (African Union [AU] and Regional Economic Communities [RECs])
• Global level (UN Agencies, human rights bodies and policy development processes).

The Opportunity

This role will lead New York based ‘She Leads’ activities for Plan International. This includes carrying out advocacy activities in New York on the topic of girls’ and young women’s participation, facilitating opportunities for Girls and Young Women led groups to engage at the New York level, and coordinating internally and externally.

Key responsibilities include;

• Developing resources, guidance and tools for both internal and external use on girls’ and young women’s participation in decision-making
• Advances the implementation of the UN strategy on youth participation in New York
• Leads cohort of young women through the She Leads programme to engage in New York based advocacy opportunities
• Facilitates access for young people, especially girls and young women, to key decision-making spaces within the UN
• Acts as youth coordinator, facilitating and supporting Girls and Young Women (GYW) delegations to attend and influence policy development in key UN processes in New York.
• Strengthens the enabling environment for girls’ and young women’s participation by influencing relevant policy processes/documents with gender-transformative and age-responsive language, in order to promote and protect the civil and political rights of children and young people, particularly girls and young women.
• Strengthens relationships with, and advocates towards, key external stakeholders, including member states
• Ensures coordination between all stakeholders in the She Leads work and Plan international’s global work on the LEAD Area of Global Distinctiveness.
• Effectively manages the project, including management of budget and expenses, and coordination of country-based and New York based She Leads partners

The Individual

You bring sound understanding of the UN system including policy development in New York and how this can advance national level advocacy, previous experience with conducting multilateral advocacy and proven ability to analyse complex political issues and to devise sophisticated strategies and innovative approaches for achieving policy change.

You have proven experience and knowledge of gender equality, women’s, children’s and girls’ rights, and familiarity with the Sustainable Development Agenda and working directly with young people.

The ability to communicate complex issues in an accessible and simple manner, excellent written English and outstanding organisational, and project and time management skills will be essential.

Please follow this link for a full role profile; JD_She Leads_Youth Advocacy_Officer.docx

Location: New York. Applicants must have the pre-existing right to work and live in the US without restrictions

Type of Role: Fixed term contract until December 2024.

Reports to: Head of NY Office

Closing Date: Sunday 7th May at 11.59pm BST

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International’s Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this scheme we will request information from applicants previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Please note that Plan International will never send unsolicited emails requesting payment from candidates.